Free Republic

BBC boss sparks anger with Brexit comments – Beeb ‘lives in metropolitan elite bubble’BBC boss Tim Davie admitted he does not know if anyone in the corporation's senior management supported Brexit - sparking an angry backlash. The director-general insisted that staff leave their political views "at the door" during a grilling by MPs on bias at the broadcaster. Mr Davie also insisted the BBC was right to start charging the over-75s for the licence fee. Ministers are currently in the final stages of negotiations with the broadcaster over how much public funding it will receive next year. At a Commons...

A young female physician yells through a megaphone. Physicians who publicly spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic could be sanctioned by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), including potentially losing board certification, the organization said Thursday. "Making public statements that are directly contrary to prevailing medical evidence can constitute unprofessional conduct and may be subject to review by ABEM. Should ABEM determine that a physician is promulgating inaccurate information that is contrary to the interests of patients and that adversely impacts public safety, ABEM may withdraw or deny certification for that physician," they stated. This warning echoes a statement...

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as woolWWII U.S. Army Officer and California Berkeley professor emeritus Irving Janis spent 50 years studying why groups of intelligent, knowledgeable people sometimes make very poor decisions. He coined the term, Groupthink: a detrimental psychological condition and practice of reasoning / decision-making that afflicts groups. It is characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view where members of the group suspend reasoning faculties...

Glenn Kirschner, an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, wants every business in America to sign on to the statement that "The 2020 presidential election was free and fair, and produced accurate, reliable results." If they don't he promises to "publish their names and addresses so their customers can take appropriate action to run them out of business." Kirschner says he "won't accept the excuse of ignorance. Its not a question of what they know. Obviously, they are not in a position to know one way or the other. They didn't scrutinize the ballots, check for IDs, or verify whether...

Black Lives Matter rushed at a Rochester supermarket, forcing staff at a supermarket to lock its doors and keep customers locked inside for nearly an hour during a demonstration to mark the one-year anniversary of Daniel Prude's death. The staff of Wegmans closed the doors, to prevent the protesters entering, leaving around 100 customers inside on Tuesday. Daniel Prude, 41, died after police were called by his family on March 23, 2020 for help with a mental health episode, exacerbated by the drug PCP.

In the summer of 2014, I gave birth to a baby boy. He was born with a perfect Apgar score, after a very easy delivery. But my labor had not been smooth—in fact, throughout the day and a half of contractions, I believed there was something decidedly wrong. I also felt that way as I held him for the first time, and he writhed violently under my hands. In a video taken about 10 minutes after he was born, he can be seen lifting his head up off my chest. “Ooooh, look at how advanced he is!” someone can be...

A former Trump worker allegedly lost his job simply because a pro sports league refused to work with a company that would employ Trump workers. Dawson Buchanan, a young Trump supporter, left a very disturbing thread on Twitter. He asserts that he was all set to begin working for a company called Private Jet Services. However, shortly before he was to begin, PJS fired him. He finally learned from the owner that PJS had a contract with the National Hockey League. When the NHL learned that PJS had hired someone who had worked for the Trump company, the NHL said...

Many of you are wondering why in the world so many high level individuals, corporations, media outlets, social media, etc. have suddenly turned with a vengeance and are attacking Trump and Trump supporters. For some it's ideological, but that only explains a small portion of it. Why would a big company alienate nearly half if not more than half of its customers over politics. Such has been a "Don't ever do that." rule of business for generations. Companies do NOT get involved in politics for that very reason. But, they have this time. Why? The only logical conclusion one can...

Have you noticed how deeply invested Democrats and only Democrats are in this Covid-19 narrative no matter how non-lethal and non-threatening it has proven to be? Yep, the same people who have been willing to say anything and do anything to get rid of Donald Trump? –even frame him for something they did? I will concede one thing: The death rate is much higher than even they report because for seven months, they’ve been scaring people to death. Shelby County woman who passed away 6 months ago gets letter saying she is COVID-19 positive...

There is an organized and growing effort to push back against the cancel culture on college campuses. Thousands of conservative and libertarian scholars and academics are standing up and issuing a ringing endorsement of academic freedom. It’s called “The Philadelphia Statement on Civil Discourse and the Strengthening of Liberal Democracy” and has been signed by such luminaries as Robert George, Christina Hoff Sommers, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and more. The statement embodies concepts that all can embrace — at least, those whose minds haven’t been poisoned by the radical left. Tragically, we are losing these defining features of our democracy. Common...

People who refuse to wear a face mask, or comply with social distancing, are more likely to have sociopath tendencies a study has found. Callousness, deceitfulness, and manipulativeness - possible signs of a sociopath - were traits commonly found among people who broke Covid-19 safety rules. Findings come from a survey of around 1,600 people in Brazil which has the second highest number of reported Covid-19 cases in the world (3.8million). The researchers said these people in society pose a risk to others, considering they still do not obey rules despite cases and deaths climbing. It adds to research done...

Actor Michael Keaton took to social media on Wednesday to implore President Donald Trump to “resign,” adding, “No harm. No foul. Walk Away. Would be Very Patriotic.” “Resign. No harm. No foul. Walk away. Would be very patriotic and I would personally write a note thanking him,” begged the Desperate Measures actor in an Instagram post. “I swear I’m not being condescending. It’s just the truth.”

To her, some of the most compelling evidence in favor of face masks comes from laboratory tests. A Florida team used mannequin heads to simulate coughing and sneezing and lasers to illuminate the tiny respiratory droplets believed to the main route of transmission. Without masks, the droplets traveled more than 8 feet. A stitched, double-layer cotton mask limited the spread to 2.5 inches...Another lab study...Yet another team used a bird flu virus as a stand in for the novel coronavirus and showed that even homemade paper and cloth masks could block penetration of more than 95 percent of virus-laden aerosols.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich discussed the push made by the progressive left in America to undermine the traditional education system. Newt....“I think what you’re seeing is the dumbing down of America for three generations, you’re seeing left-wing indoctrination and literally groupthink,”.... I really think the time has come to take back the schools and to take back the universities. And I think that a lot of governors, frankly, aren’t doing their job when they allow public universities to be run by people who are radically anti-American.” “So, this is a very dangerous moment in our history,” Gingrich...

Writing in this magazine a month ago, I applauded the government’s stated aim of trying to follow the science in dealing with Covid. Such promises are easier made than kept. Following science means understanding science. It means engaging with rival interpretations of the limited data in order to tease out what is most important in what we don’t know. Instead, the government in the UK (and many other places) seems uninterested in alternative viewpoints. The chosen narrative – that lockdown has saved countless lives – has been doggedly followed by all spokespeople. No doubt is allowed. We have been seeing...

Are you about to post a tweet containing “harmful” language? Don’t worry — Twitter is experimenting with a feature that will warn you ahead of time, so you don’t accidentally infect any users with your wrongthink. “When things get heated, you may say things you don’t mean,” wrote Twitter’s official support account in a tweet yesterday. To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.” It’s a bit like “precrime” in the 2002...

As long as there are residents in the state of Michigan who need help and who need a voice, Democratic Congresswoman Karen Whitsett promised Saturday that she will not be silenced. In an interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend" with host Pete Hegseth, Whitsett explained that she would also continue to work with President Trump and any president who extended a hand her way to ensure what's done in her state needs to be done. On Saturday, a group called the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization will consider censuring Whitsett for foregoing the status quo and meeting with President...

Democratic Party leaders in Georgia and Michigan have targeted two state legislators for punishment. The “crime” of which both are accused is “breaking our party’s united front against the Trump menace,” said state Rep. James Beverly (D-Macon), chairman of the party’s House caucus. Georgia state representative Vernon Jones (D-DeKalb) made the “mistake” of praising the positive impacts on African Americans of Trump’s economic and prison-reform policies. Beverly pointed out that “it is our Party’s position that nothing Trump does is worthy of approval. Everything must be condemned if we hope to unseat him in the November election. There must be...

Thomas Fleming talked about his book, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War, in which he portrays the Civil War as a tragedy that American leaders foresaw and struggled to prevent. He spoke about how public opinion and propaganda helped spark the war, and the longstanding tensions between the North and South. He also discussed events that heightened fear of a slave rebellion in the southern states. The Pritzker Military Library hosted this event.

...Folks, Americans are extremely naive about what’s coming. We just cannot imagine that people who burst into tears in the face of gentle mockery of their political beliefs can ever come to power. They are already in power, in the sense that they have mesmerized leaders of American institutions. I’m telling you, that 2015 showdown on Yale’s campus between Prof. Nicholas Christakis and the shrieking students was profoundly symbolic. Christakis used the techniques of discursive reason to try to establish contact with these young people. None of it mattered. They yelled and cursed and sobbed. The fact that he disagreed...